BIZ CHAT WITH MIKE CARLSON Q&A
Mike Carlson
to make a change. I had interviewed with other big brokerage houses and found myself feeling really underwhelmed by the level of sophistication in the sales organizations and the marketing. At the time, Nicholas Scherb, who is my partner at 26 North Yachts, was a yacht captain. He was always interested in transitioning into yacht sales and he was ready to do it at that point. At the time, we were both young and we both didn’t have a lot of financial responsibilities. We felt there was an opportunity to create more value, even though it was just the two of us at the time. In 2011, the market was also still really recovering from the 2007-2008 recession. It was still a down market so we felt like if we could be successful in a down market then we could be successful at any time. HOW HAS THE YACHT INDUSTRY CHANGED SINCE YOU FIRST ENTERED IT? The importance of online marketing has grown and everyone recognizes that now. There’s also been a lot of changes in brokerages like the age of brokers and professionalism. I think has been improved exponentially. There are a lot more professional sales people and a lot of younger brokers that are coming into the industry. When we first started, I was by far the youngest one in the industry whereas now I see
WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO START 26 NORTH YACHTS AND WHERE DID YOUR JOURNEY BEGIN? When we started in 2011, it was the beginning of the internet age in the marine industry. In the marine industry specifically, I thought there was an opportunity for marketing. I’ve always had a big passion for marketing. I felt like we could do a lot better of a job at marketing than a lot of companies, even the big companies, so I just felt like I was ready We sat down with 26 North Yacht’s co-owner Mike Carlson about tips on how to stay ahead in marketing trends in the industry and what the future holds.
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Q&A | BIZ CHAT WITH MIKE CARLSON NEW & NOTEWORTHY
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